View full sizeCourtesy of Laura Ryan Emergency crews "respond" to a mock DWI crash May 3 at Jordan-Elbridge High School.

The following article was submitted by Laura Ryan, of the Jordan-Elbridge school district.

Jordan, NY -- The junior and senior classes at Jordan-Elbridge High School were exposed to the horrors of teenage drunken driving May 3 during an exercise presented by the Jordan, Elbridge and Memphis fire departments, as well as Mercy Flight, the Jordan Police Department and New York State Police.

School officials and students organized the Mock DWI Assembly as a cautionary lesson for students planning to attend the JE Junior Prom on May 5 and Senior Ball on June 1.

As their classmates watched from risers set up in the high school parking lot, student volunteers assumed the roles of crash victims (junior Emily O’Hara and seniors Joe Contini and Frank Bartkowiak) and suspect (junior Garrett Merrill) in a dramatization of the aftermath of an alcohol-related crash.

While the suspected drunken driver walks away unharmed, his female passenger has been thrown through the windshield. Emergency crews carefully extract her from the glass and load her into an ambulance.

The driver of the other car, meanwhile, is pronounced dead at the scene, and the suspect is led away in handcuffs.

Casey Brim, an emergency medical technician with the Jordan Fire Department and a 2006 graduate of Jordan-Elbridge High School, served as master of ceremonies for the assembly.

New York State Trooper James Bush, another J-E alumnus, concluded the exercise by recounting details of alcohol-related crash scenes he has witnessed on the job.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, young drivers (ages 15 to 20) are especially vulnerable to death and injury on U.S. roadways.

Mile for mile, teenagers are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers.

In 2007, 31 percent of young drivers who were killed had blood alcohol concentrations of .01 or greater, and 26 percent of young drivers had BACs of .08 or greater.

Also in 2007, 64 percent of young drivers involved in alcohol-related crashes did not wear their seatbelts. Of the young drivers who had been drinking and were killed in crashes, 75 percent were unrestrained.

In 2008, an estimated 12.4 percent of people age 12 or older drove under the influence of alcohol at least once during the past year. The rate was highest among drivers ages 21 to 25 (26.1 percent).

The best defense against a drunken driver, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is to wear a seat belt. Safety restraints reduce serious injuries and deaths from crashes by about 50 percent.